cruise to St. Petersburg on US passport but place of birth is Russia

Looking for advice from anyone who has experieneced the same situation. We have booked Regal Princess Scandinavian and St. Petersburg cruise to celebrate my daughter's graduation. She will be 18 at time of sailing. We adopted her at 14 months old and she has held US Citizenship and US passport for 17 years.

Princess states that all passengers exiting the ship for a Princess excursion will not need a visa, but will be required to provide a copy of their passports to Russian immigration when going ashore. (We will not be doing anything on our own which requires our own visa)

I'm nervous about this because it shows her place of birth as Russia. Has anyone dealt with this before when entering St.Petersburg, and were there any questions asked or raised concerns?

Thank you.

I am holding US passport but had been born in Ukraine. That nver got me any problem during recent 10 years. IB

Looking for advice from anyone who has experieneced the same situation. We have booked Regal Princess Scandinavian and St. Petersburg cruise to celebrate my daughter's graduation. She will be 18 at time of sailing. We adopted her at 14 months old and she has held US Citizenship and US passport for 17 years.

 

Princess states that all passengers exiting the ship for a Princess excursion will not need a visa, but will be required to provide a copy of their passports to Russian immigration when going ashore. (We will not be doing anything on our own which requires our own visa)

 

I'm nervous about this because it shows her place of birth as Russia. Has anyone dealt with this before when entering St.Petersburg, and were there any questions asked or raised concerns?

 

Thank you.

Do you have a copy of the adoption paperwork? I would take that with you. HTH.

I can't answer your question but am curious about something else. I have had 2 friends who have adopted infants from Russia. They are now older then your daughter. They were required to keep a Russian Passport until they were 18. Were you required to do this? I think at 18, they no longer needed to do this or could renounce their Russian citizenship. Did this change?

Sorry - off topic. Good luck with your trip. I hope your family had a fabulous time. St. Petersburg is a very beautiful city.

I would contact your Russian consulate and ask them your question. Many countries deal with people they consider their own citizens differently regardless of their status in a new country. One example has traditionally been military service. There have been cases where someone was a citizen of another country during the years their birth country would have required them to serve. The birth country considered them to have avoided their lawful service. Not saying this would be your situation but I would be asking your question of authorities who speak with knowledge of laws, legislation and experience rather than in a forum of ad-hoc opinions, guesses and expectations.

Too often the American expectation of extraterritoriality runs smack into reality.

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I am holding US passport but had been born in Ukraine. That nver got me any problem during recent 10 years. IB

Yes, but the times they are a changing and quickly. You'll have a better idea of the situation by cruise time. I personally wouldn't get off the ship in Russia under Putin"s dictatorship.

Looking for advice from anyone who has experieneced the same situation. We have booked Regal Princess Scandinavian and St. Petersburg cruise to celebrate my daughter's graduation. She will be 18 at time of sailing. We adopted her at 14 months old and she has held US Citizenship and US passport for 17 years.

 

Princess states that all passengers exiting the ship for a Princess excursion will not need a visa, but will be required to provide a copy of their passports to Russian immigration when going ashore. (We will not be doing anything on our own which requires our own visa)

 

I'm nervous about this because it shows her place of birth as Russia. Has anyone dealt with this before when entering St.Petersburg, and were there any questions asked or raised concerns?

 

Thank you.

In addition to doing as Cruzer1001 said and checking with a Russian embassy, I would also check with a US embassy and see if what they say agrees with what the Russian embassy said. If the 2 agree, great. If they don't, then I'd worry.

Tom

OP, our daughter was adopted from Russia when she was 15 months old. Four years ago we were planning to take a Baltic cruise on the Pacific Princess and booked a St Petersburg tour with TJ Travel. I asked TJ Travel if I needed to provide my daughter's Russian passport information for the "tour visa," but was advised to provide only the information (name, date of birth, passport number) on her US passport so that all of our family would appear before the immigration officer together. Soon after booking our cruise and the STP tour, Russia invaded Crimea and we decided against going on the that cruise. I remember reading on Cruise Critic's boards about other families with kids adopted from Russia who took ship or private tours in STP and had no issues when their children showed immigration officers their US passports with Russia as the place of birth. This is not "official" guidance but I wanted to share my research and the advice received from one of the large STP tour companies.

Looking for advice from anyone who has experieneced the same situation. We have booked Regal Princess Scandinavian and St. Petersburg cruise to celebrate my daughter's graduation. She will be 18 at time of sailing. We adopted her at 14 months old and she has held US Citizenship and US passport for 17 years.

 

 

 

Princess states that all passengers exiting the ship for a Princess excursion will not need a visa, but will be required to provide a copy of their passports to Russian immigration when going ashore. (We will not be doing anything on our own which requires our own visa)

 

 

 

I'm nervous about this because it shows her place of birth as Russia. Has anyone dealt with this before when entering St.Petersburg, and were there any questions asked or raised concerns?

 

 

 

Thank you.

Your situation was precisely ours, same age of our child at time of adoption and sailing. Same ship even. Summer 2016. No problem or even a single question at the border at all. Additionally we didn’t utilize the cruise line excursions on the 2 days in port.

We had, in years past, been to Russia with our son on a number of charity trips. He travelled then with his US passport and one time it was even misspelled for 5 years (typo, still never questioned). The visa requirements were different in that case, even more strict, so the tourist visa you will have at time of your travel is perfectly fine. Enjoy the cruise!

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And also, I should mention that our son at age of cruise travel was the age of compulsory Russian Army service. That fact crossed our minds.

But that won’t be a concern for a daughter.

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The only restriction I have ever seen on these forums was for a U.S. army member who was on active duty (but on vacation for the cruise) in Europe.

He was informed before the cruise that he would not be allowed in Russian waters. He left the ship in the port immediately before St Petersburg and rejoined the ship at the first port after St Petersburg.

Caribil,

When was this that active duty can not cruise to Russia? I have had friends do this and have had no issues. Interesting..

I can't answer your question but am curious about something else. I have had 2 friends who have adopted infants from Russia. They are now older then your daughter. They were required to keep a Russian Passport until they were 18. Were you required to do this? I think at 18, they no longer needed to do this or could renounce their Russian citizenship. Did this change?

 

Sorry - off topic. Good luck with your trip. I hope your family had a fabulous time. St. Petersburg is a very beautiful city.

I have no idea really if this was required or not. My daughter fell under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and was declared a US Citizen upon her adoption in June 2001. And to be extra careful, we also recently applied for her actual Certificate of Citizenship which she will get next Friday. She did have a Russian Passport, but I'm sure it's expired. Was issued as a baby at 14 months.

Your situation was precisely ours, same age of our child at time of adoption and sailing. Same ship even. Summer 2016. No problem or even a single question at the border at all. Additionally we didn’t utilize the cruise line excursions on the 2 days in port.

 

We had, in years past, been to Russia with our son on a number of charity trips. He travelled then with his US passport and one time it was even misspelled for 5 years (typo, still never questioned). The visa requirements were different in that case, even more strict, so the tourist visa you will have at time of your travel is perfectly fine. Enjoy the cruise!

 

 

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thank you that's good to hear, and we plan on staying with excursions arranged by Princess so no need for our own personal visas.

The two leading tour companies there are SPB and Alla. Would also ask them about this.

They should both be very knowledgable about this

The two leading tour companies there are SPB and Alla. Would also ask them about this.

They should both be very knowledgable about this

I agree with the comment, that these companies would have encountered this issue previously and will know the answer. We have toured with SPB. They were fantastic. When passengers book a tour through a recognised tour company such as these, they do not need to obtain a visa. Personal information is given to the tour company ahead of time and it is all arranged and included in the price of the tour - probably half what you will pay with Princess and you will travel in a smaller group. The CC group we were with went on the two-day excursion in St Petersburgh with SPB. We had 6 or 7 small buses.

OHtoNC

Just to clarify further our experience from 2016:

We used SPB, we did not obtain visas during that cruise travel. Our previous visas were for different trips for different purposes.

As I mentioned, there was no problem with the SPB tours or border control. The tour guide shrugged it off when I mentioned it in country, and said there would be no problem. She was correct.

But if you are concerned, then by all means, use PCL tours. That’s reasonable and I as an adoptive mom of a Russian child completely understand your concern. But others have gone ahead of you without an issue, not long ago.

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OHtoNC

 

 

As I mentioned, there was no problem with the SPB tours or border control. The tour guide shrugged it off when I mentioned it in country, and said there would be no problem. She was correct.

 

But if you are concerned, then by all means, use PCL tours. That’s reasonable and I as an adoptive mom of a Russian child completely understand your concern. But others have gone ahead of you without an issue, not long ago.

 

It does not matter if you use a Princess tour or a tour company such as SPB. Everybody goes through the passport inspection (immigration) booths and the agents there do not care who you are touring with.

With a valid USA passport, there should be no problem no matter who the tour is with.

The agents manning these booth are not very happy bureaucrats and unless something is seriously wrong they do not want to make more work for themselves.

Caribill,

 

When was this that active duty can not cruise to Russia? I have had friends do this and have had no issues. Interesting..

One post by "love2bonboard" on another thread from several years ago says:

One note...while most people do not need to get a visa for Russia, please take note for any of you who are active duty military...YOU NEED A VISA. Trust me on this. My husband found out 2 weeks before the cruise that the "blanket" visa which covers cruise passengers does not include DOD employees and has a set of regulations regardless of Princess or Russian rules. My husband was denied clearance (he was not even allowed to stay on the ship as the ship was in Russian waters). We had to disembark in Helsinki and re-embark in Tallinn. Every customer service representative from Princess will tell you that you don't need one, but the DOD has there own regulations. So, you active military cruisers...get your visa!

Caribil,

 

When was this that active duty can not cruise to Russia? I have had friends do this and have had no issues. Interesting..

I don't know if the restriction is specifically for Russia, or a military issue. I travelled to Israel with my father in 1984 a few months before he retired from the Navy. He had approval for the Israel trip, but we kids wanted to cross into Egypt and he was not allowed as he hadn't received the proper approvals.

The only restriction I have ever seen on these forums was for a U.S. army member who was on active duty (but on vacation for the cruise) in Europe.

 

He was informed before the cruise that he would not be allowed in Russian waters. He left the ship in the port immediately before St Petersburg and rejoined the ship at the first port after St Petersburg.

Informed by whom?

IMNSHO, this is not the place to get what amounts to legal advice.

Think: State departments, embassies, adoption lawyers, unit legal officers, ....

IMNSHO, this is not the place to get what amounts to legal advice.

 

Think: State departments, embassies, adoption lawyers, unit legal officers, ....

Maybe, but our state dept. was decimated and has no leadership:(

I traveled to Russia from Germany when I was active duty. Since it was in the 70's I know I had to get approval from HQ and Russia, but it was not a problem. Also visited East Germany. Had to get approval to visit China in 1983; Working for the DOD in 2000, I did a Baltic cruise without anything but my passport. Did get a Russia visa as a precaution, but didn't need it as we took ship tours (Celebrity). EM

Maybe, but our state dept. was decimated and has no leadership:(

Assuming you mean the US DoS, the consular service folks

(who are the folks relevant to this thread) are doing just fine.